30 Day BSC Challenge: Day 9

Okay, this marks my 99th post. I want to do something for the big 100th, but I'm out of ideas. I'm going to Chicago tonight, and I don't think I'll have access to internet for a couple of days, so that'll give me some time to think. Perhaps. If I can't come up with anything, 100th post will be day ten.

Favorite Minor Character

I love Janine Kishi. Claudia never gave her enough credit and always treated her horribly. Girl can't help it if she's got brains out the wazoo. Thanks to her we also learn seemingly random facts about...everything.

Everytime I say hopefully I can hear her going in my head "hopefully is one of the most commonly misused words in the English language..." or whatever. I still am not quite sure what is the correct usage of the word.

She also had Claudia's back, whether Claudia wanted to admit it or not... AND Claudia and Janine share a love of junk food.

BSC Challenge Day 8

I missed a day. So sue me :P

Least Favorite Super Special:

I actually really do like all of the super specials, and I'll read them all over and over again. I guess the main reason I picked this one was because for awhile it was the ONLY super special I had available, and I read it to death, so now I'm kind of sick of it. Dawn and Claudia were both uber annoying as well, and because of those reasons it's not one I'm likely to reread that often anymore.

Runner up would probably be Aloha, Baby-Sitters.

30 Day BSC Challenge: Day 7

Favorite Super Special:

Okay, this one was easy. California Girls was the first BSC book I'd ever read... not counting Karen's Ducklings which was the first BSC-verse book I'd ever read.

I came into the series relatively "late" compared to most of the other people I came across. I stumbled across this book one day in third grade in the school library. Kindergarten-2nd had books in one portion of the school library, 3rd-5th graders had books in the other portion. BSC books were in the older portion. Don't blame me, blame the school. It's okay though, I was bitten by the BSC bug hard and fast that year. So much so that I dressed up as a Stacey/Claudia mix for Halloween in fourth grade.

I have no shame.

Karen's Ducklings got me into the whole BSC universe, but this book was what introduced me really to the older girls, and for that reason alone, there really can't be another favorite Super Special for me. Not to mention it has the BSC winning the lottery, California, beaches, surfing, boys, baby-sitting, tourist sites that I HAD to go see when i went to California twice in fourth grade (once in the fall once the summer after), Mallory getting a horrendous makeover, a BSC fight, movie stars (or TV stars, whatever) and a mini disaster in the form of a car accident. Although the girls freaking out over the Jet Stream at six flags magic mountain had me a bit panicked the first time I went on it because of the 57 foot drop. I got off it wondering what the hell all the fuss had been about.

What more can you wish for?

30 Day BSC Challenge: Day 6

Least Favorite Mystery:

As I have yet to read all the mysteries, this was a bit of a challenge. This one stands out because I've only read it a few times, not in any hurry to actually reread it again, and it's just...boring. I mean, it has New! York! City! and a BSC boyfriend that tips your chin to kiss you, so it should be fantabulous, right?

Not really.

Also, from what I can remember, the Jewel "Thieves" aren't even really thieves at all. Not even in the slightest. They're actors preparing for a play.

Lame.

Other least favorites that would make the list are Stacey and the Missing Ring, and Mary Anne and the Zoo Mystery, even though there was that great part where the baby-sitters go completely spaztastic on Stacey still sitting for Charlotte Johanssen even though she had quit the club. That is the only part of that book I really remember clearly, but whatever. (another book I've only read once), I give the edge to Jessi and the Jewel Thieves as my least favorite.

30 Day BSC Challenge: Day 5

Favorite Mystery:

Okay, granted I've only read this book once. (Plan on rereading it very soon, though.) It stands out. I pretty much like the mysteries. My favorite genre is Mystery/Thriller/suspense, whatever, and out of all the mysteries this one stands out because ... it's FREAKY. The culprit is really batshit crazy in a psycho/better watch your back or they'll cut you kind of way. I remember being shocked the first time I read it because it was so unlike any of the other mysteries. I've heard that Kristy and the Cat Burglar is pretty disturbing as well, but have yet to read it.

30 Day Challenge List

I should have posted this earlier. It was first posted on the BSC proboards, and Greer's doing it over on Stoneybrookite. Here is the 30 day breakdown:

1. Favorite sitter

2. Least favorite sitter

3. Favorite regular book

4. least favorite regular book

5. Favorite mystery

6. Least favorite mystery

7. favorite super special

8. least favorite super special

9 favorite minor character

10 least favorite minor character

11. favorite sitting charge

12 least favorite sitting charge

13 favorite parent

14. least favorite parent

15. favorite bsc fight

16. favorite bsc love interest

17. favorite bsc organized event

18 favorite vacation spot

19 favorite holiday book

20 favorite couple in the book

21 favorite couple not in the book

22. BSC Member or Minor Character you could see yourself being friends with

23. Favorite Friends Forever

24. Least favorite Friends Forever

25. Moments/scene from the books that sticks out to you the most

26. Favorite Claudia outfit

27. Favorite Stacey outfit

28 One thing youv'e learned from the BSC

29. Favorite BSC Villain

30. biggest 'that wouldn't really happen in real life' moment.

And i just realized there was a mistake in the numbering on the main post, and there's only 29. Will get on that

Edit: Fixed!

30 Day BSC Challenge: Day 4

Least Favorite Regular Series Book:

Okay, I really can't choose between these two. There are a few BSC books that I have only read once, some of them were so long ago that I can't really make a judgment call. I read these two for the first time in the past couple of years.

I actually can usually identify with Mallory (other than the whole oldest of eight kids, thing), but she was so obnoxious and annoying, and a BRAT that it drove me nuts.

Same pretty much goes for Abby in Abby the Bad Sport. I mean, she's mean to a girl who's mentally handicapped...

Or something like that. It's been awhile since I've read the book.

I normally LIKE Abby, but I couldnt' stand her in this one.

30 Day BSC Challenge: Day 3

Favorite Regular BSC Book:

I'm a sucker for all the medical stuff. Probably should have used a different picture of Stacey, though for day 1.

30 Day BSC Challenge- Day 2

Least Favorite Sitter:

I can't pick between any of the main members, and Logan can be a possessive twerp. :P

30 Day BSC Challenge: Day 1

Favorite Sitter:

Stacey. I don't know why I liked her. She's the complete opposite of me. I was never popular, not really considered "pretty" (at least conventionally), and don't have much of a fashion sense.

That's probably why I liked her though. I DID have a friendship with a younger girl that was somewhat like Stacey/Charlotte's friendship. Sort of.

It didn't hurt that she had some interesting adventures, as well.

Note: I don't know if I'll be able to keep up with this every day, so will just do it when I am able

to.

Edited: To change Stacey Pic and to add more info.

Jackpot at goodwill

Okay, no BSC books (though they did have Kristy's Great Idea, but I already have two copies, don't need another.)

However, I did score 3 books from The Gymnasts series by Elizabeth Levy, a Lurlene McDaniel book, 2 John Sandford books, Mary higgins Clark, Karin Slaughter, Erica Spindler, and a copy of the Da Vinci Code.

Since I was in the mood for a tearjerker, I'm reading Please Don't Die (mcdaniel) first. About a group of girls at summer camp like place, where they're all suffering from an illness of some sort. Katie is the main girl, she's recovering from a heart transplant. There's Amanda who has leukemia and Chelsea, who needs a heart transplant.

Then there's Lacey. A blonde haired diabetic who has bickering parents and an expensive wardrobe.

Can i just make an OT post to say

CARDINALS WON THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And i had WAY too much amberbock, but idgaf. THE CARDINALS WON THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

11 in 11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! proudly wearing my rally squirrel tshirt!!

if there are ANY rangers fans out there... it truly was a great series. You guys nearly gave me a heart attack game 6... and for the record, I lived in Texas for six years. if we didn't make it to the WS i would have rooted for you guys all the way. (Seriously, Nyger Morgan needs to just GO AWAY). But... I grew up in St. Louis. Any baseball fan who has strong roots for their home team has to understand the way I feel for the Cardinals. there was no way i could root against them, even against a team in a state i lived in for six years (though I was in houston.).

Another Popular Children's Book Series to have Prequel Written

So, for my children's literature class I had to do an author study on Patricia Machlachlan (Sarah Plain and Tall fame.)

While scrounging on the internet for information on her, I stumbled upon this:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/46503-patricia-maclachlan-to-pen-boxcar-children-prequel.html

Thoughts? Personally, I'm looking forward to it. GCW has been dead for decades, and I think if there's an author that can pull it off, it's Maclachlan.

I have a few of my favorite authors as friends on Facebook (AMM included). One of my favorite mystery/thriller authors, Wendy Corsi Staub (She's awesome. She'll reply to posts you have about her or to her.), just posted this on her wall.

Just had Eloise tea at the Palm Court at the plaza with four special Gugino women to celebrate a very special girl's 6th birthday!

(And now my font is screwed up. Oh, well)

Why am I suddenly a four year old Stacey McGill dressed up like Eloise and Luciano Pavoratti singing in the background?

OH, right. BSC book alert.

REAL 8th Graders of the 90's

I know I'm not the only one who pictured the girls as being older than they actually are. Nowadays when I see an actual current eighth grader, part of me thinks "Damn, they look YOUNG." In particular the boys.

So, someone tagged me in this picture on facebook. I'm fairly easy to pick out... (First row, seated).

See the first male teacher from the left? ( Seated obviously. I'm sure you can pick him out. The eighth grade boys in the first row look rather prepubescent).

Had a major crush on him. Like, Stacey's Big Crush major crush

http://s1084.photobucket.com/albums/j409/djsharpe/?action=view&current=316125_2020050433520_1611712135_31686512_445846227_n2.jpg

Okay, was having issues with getting the picture sized well. Was coming up very small. If you're curious, just go ahead and click on that link

Update...kinda

School starts tomorrow, not sure how busy I'll be, but I'm glad I managed to get a few posts done over the summer.

I have a children's literature class this semester, and i'm really looking forward to it. I think it's gonna be interesting, and... if we have a project part of my brain is wondering whether the baby-sitters club would work?

Ten Rules for Living With My Sister

Ann M. Martin has a new book coming out in September called "Ten Rules for Living with My Sister." She posted a link to the first two chapters on her facebook page, and I immediately went and read them, glad that even though she had ended the Main Street Series (*Tear*), she was still writing.

From the first two chapters I can already draw parallels to the BSC. Some things never change, but that's okay. The book is told from the viewpoint of 9 year old Pearl, who lives in an apartment in New York City with her 13 (going on 14) sister Lexi, (short for Alexandria) her parents, and her cat Bitey. Right off the bat, she goes into a chart of differences of herself and her sister, which include boyfriends (she lists her cat as her boyfriend), friends (poor kid only has one friend who's in first grade), interests (what ELSE would a thirteen year old do other than baby-sit?), and a bunch of other lesser differences.

Lexi has a WIDE range of interests. Listed among them other than baby-sitting is....

knitting.

soccer.

violin.

ballet.

She wears lipstick, has a boyfriend and has fashionable clothes. (not to mention her own key to the apartment.)

So looks like Lexi is a combination of Abby/Anna/Mary Anne/Jessi/Stacey.

It actually looks really cute. I would have kept on reading, but there were only 2 chapters.
Another interesting parallel I drew was that Lexi is "practically brilliant".. and Pearl doesn't apply herself academically, but in fact is actually "practically brilliant" as well. Her parents put her in kindergarten early, and she's bitter about it. There's a trio of girls that Lexi makes it sound like they're kind of like Pamela/Jannie/Leslie from BSLS.

Anyway, if anyone is interested, here's the link to the first two chapters:

http://media.us.macmillan.com/excerpts/9780312367664EX.pdf

Oh. My. Lord

So I was wandering around on youtube looking for a good new BSC fanvid video to post, and I stumbled upon this:

According to the youtube profile it's a thirteen year old. I can't really say much, because if I had a bunch of dolls (American Girl or otherwise, I only had the Claudia doll myself in the BSC set), I'd probably have done something similar.

If you can get past the "Spyer" and "David Mitchell"... it's rather amusing.

BSC TV Show Where Are They Now? UPDATES

I did one of these a long time ago, not long after I started this blog. There were a couple of people missing, because I couldn't find ANYTHING on them. Well, I'm happy to say, I have now found them. (Well, it's been a couple of months since I discovered the last one on FB, I was just too lazy to do anything.)

Because I already feel so stalkerish, i won't post their links to their profiles, but I will say, the majority of these were NOT hard to find, because A), with the exception of one, they all look the same and B) the ones that were a bit harder, were friends with someone else. Also, I think I have a pretty good memory, and if they got married at some point when I was randomly looking people up, I have a tendency to remember their married name as well (if applicable).

Avriel Hillman: (Kristy)

As far as I can tell,, she's done a lot of plays and directing. The most recent thing on IMDB says she was the executive producer of a short called A Doctor's Image in 2010.

Jeni F Winslow (Claudia)

I wish I'd gotten a picture when i first found her profile page (thanks to someone who clued me in on one of the comments on this blog), because it actually showed her entire face, but alas, she's got the bod, so why not.

There's not a whole lot of info on her available. but she lives in New York and is married

Meghan Lahey: (Mary Anne)

Okay, I was gonna use her facebook picture (which would entail all kinds of cropping and it was small to begin with), but I found another one! According to the website I found this on, she's no longer working as a school counselor (at least where she WAS), but still involved in counseling. I'm not really sure. It's too early for me to delve too much into the company info and the company works with schools. Steinbrecher & Partners if you're interested.

Anyway, she's got three kids, and I'm assuming married (because our Mary Anne would never have kids without getting married, am I right?) Two of which are boys.

Jessica Prunell (Stacey)

She's still working as a lawyer at a lawfirm in New York (different one, though.) She's now married and has a son who inherited her dimples.

Meghan Andrews (Mallory)

Still acting, still singing. Nothing much to update on from the previous post, but still flawless looking.

http://www.myspace.com/meghanandrewsmusic

I couldn't find Nicole Leach (Jessi) on facebook. She might not have one, her name might be too common (nor could I find her under the name she goes by now, which is Nicole Rochelle), or I was just too tired and didn't feel like digging very far, and she's not friends with mallory (which she was on myspace)

HOWEVER, I did find this fabulous video of her on youtube. Girl's got talent coming out the wazoo. From what I can tell, she hasn't done much screen work, but she's very active in theatre.

So, who am I missing?

Oh, yes. The ever elusive Melissa Chasse (Dawn.)

Well, here you go.

NOT from her direct facebook page, (most of those pictures were pretty blurry) but found it FROM her page. She's a dancer, choreographer, (high school musicals) and manages a spa in Connecticut. She also has a daughter from what I can tell.

Dawn Schafer managing a health spa? NO WAY.

(Although there was something about chocolate fondue. YUM. Claudia obviously must've had a say in that.)

While I'm at it, a couple of those clients:

Danny Tamberelli (Little Pete/Jackie Rodowsky)

Lives in New York. Adds everyone to his facebook friends (I know. I'm on there, Thanks, Danny!) He studied writing and music, and is in a band. http://www.jounce.org/home/

Gina Gallagher (Charlotte Johanssen)

She had a stint on All My Children as one of the many Bianca Montgomery's in the nineties, then had a brief part in Analyze This.

She's now married and has been working as a teacher, and she lives on Long Island.

The page for the TV show on IMDB has failed me. There are very few other parts that are listed, and except for "Katherine" I've covered them all, so I had to go look for my epic post on the LJ community Howtheylooknow, because I had added an extra few...AND IT WONT LOAD.

Anyway, as a wrap up, here's Karen Brewer's IMDB page.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1860307/ (Those pictures are old).

OOPS it finally loaded.

Let's have a little Jamie Anderson (Dawn's "Dream boy" aka Shane McDermott)

was in the movie Airborne (which I think I must seriously be missing out on haven't seen) and is now a realtor in Galveston Texas.

Ah, hell, how could I forget Zach Braff in Dawn Saves the Trees who played David Cummings...

I could with the name but I won't.

Okay, I've decided if I find more info on anyone else that appeared, I'll just post and forget the whole Edited to Add crap:

Say hello to Dave Buzotta aka Pete Black:

His IMDB page is somewhat active, and has done a couple of stints the past couple of years appearing in tv shows. Nothing huge, but it looks like he's still acting.

Anyone remember the Goloff's from Dawn and the Haunted House? Brittany Slattery played Annie, the one with the mop of curly blonde hair.

Same as Dave, still doing some acting work here and there, and she went to NYU and majored in film.

BSC product placement Picture

I was scanning a bunch of old pictures that my mother sent me, and while I was going through them, I stumbled upon this deliciously awkward picture of me in my early stages of pubery (4th grade)and if you look really closely at the bookshelf behind us kids, you'll see Baby-Sitters Club books.

And can I just say, I had a crush on the kid on the left. Mullet and all. Too bad he moved after fifth grade :P

Mallory Jacklyne ?

So I was flittering around on the wikipedia page for the BSC, and I was startled to see a middle name listed for Mallory. Her middle name is listed on other websites as well, and I cannot for the life of me recall where it was mentioned in the books.

I haven't read all of the books, so can someone help me out here?

ANM? Really?

Anyone who's floated around in the internet fandom of the Baby-Sitters Club has probably seen people call Ann M. Martin ANM. Whether it be from Tiff's blog (Claudia's Room), or on LiveJournal where there is a BSC community and various snark sites, people are calling the author ANM instead of calling her by her full name, or actually using her real initials... AMM.

Let me just say it plainly and simply.

IT DRIVES ME NUTS!

I can be a bit of a Karen when it comes to spelling. Mistakes happen, sure...and if there's a cute kitty involved, well, I admit I have a soft spot for Lolcats... (because... they're cats. Who knows what they really sound like other than meow? ;) ),but there is something about calling the author ANM that just bugs me. Mistakes happen, but this is obviously intentional.

I know there's some inside joke that I must have missed, but I truly don't get it. I don't see any point at all in changing the middle initial of her name. Is it easier to type? No...because you're adding a different letter, where as before there would only be two. Nor does it have any alliterative sense, as in Kristy's Krushers. To me, it makes the people who do this repeatedly look like they can't tell the difference between an N and an M (which is clearly shown on every single cover of every last one of her books.)

As with those people who always mess up your/you're and their/they're and there, it makes me cringe and I have to bite my tongue (or clench my fingers if you will).

Rant ended.

Yikes!

I've just realized it's been 6 months since I've updated this. I'm not sure if anyone noticed that my little corner of the interwebz has been silent, but I'm alive. I've just been busy. I've had school all year...and changed my major from Music Education, which was eating me alive, to Elementary Ed with a specialization in Music.

However, it's summer! School got out a week and a half ago, and I have three and a half glorious months set in front of me. I can't afford summer school, so I get a nice long vacation. I also got news back on Friday that I passed the Illinois Basic Skills test which one needs to pass to get into the education program. It has an $86 fee for every attempt (whether you need to retake the whole thing or not), so I really could not afford to retake it. I didn't do as well as I would have liked (at all) on the reading and writing sections, which is kind of ironic considering how much I read and that I can be a bit of a grammar nazi (although, I do tend to write kind of lazily on here). I sailed through the math portion. I guess I can attribute that to the fact that I was in a math class this semester specifically designed to prepare students for the test, and I haven't had a writing intensive course in a few years...or a literature class for that matter. Also, it was really early, I hadn't had much sleep the night before, and some of those damn questions were really tricky, and you weren't sure what they looking for. It also didn't seem to help that with each practice test I took, my score kept getting lower.

Anyway, I won't dwell on it too much. I passed, and that's all that really matters. Now with summer ahead of me, I can focus on the more fun things. Try and find a job, and look forward to the production of Bye Bye Birdie I will be participating in. I also want to try and spend some time on this poor blog that I have completely abandoned. Spend more time devoted to my favorite childhood book series that doesn't entirely include shamelessly making Sims characters of them...

Anyone out there that sees this that has any ideas???? :)